Question

Whitney works hard to pay as much as she can toward her college tuition and avoids taking out student loans whenever possible. She's noticed that she could use some new clothes before the next semester starts and has saved $300. She prefers to shop at department stores but knows her money won't go very far at stores like that. Whitney is determined not to go over her budget, so she ends to come up with a plan that will help her stick to it.

1.) Are there other shopping options that Whitney could take advantage of? If so, what are they?

2.) What kind of impact would purchases not made at a department store have on her budget?

3.) If you were in Whitney's shoes, what would you do? Why?

Answer 1

1) As Whitney wants to shop in a tighter budget, her decision to avoid departmental store for shopping is correct, there are plenty of other options that she may consider for the purpose of shopping. Departmental stores are basically retailers and they sell products after adding a hefty profit margin on them. The cost of products also gets increase due to intermediaries involved in bringing the product to store and ultimately selling the same to customers. Whitney can consider option of Online shopping application, which can offer large varities of products and at affordable prices. There are lot of discounts that are being offered by online merchants. This will help Whitney in getting the best possible return for her 300$.

2) If she would opt for other options like online purchases then her budget will remain under control and she will not go out of budget. At the same time she can purchase what's in her mind and at way affordable prices then what she would have purchased at a departmental store. She might end up with some savings which she can use for the purpose of paying her tuition fees for the next semester. As it is rightly said 'a penny saved is like a penny earned'.

3) If I would be in Whitney's shoes, I would avoid shopping at this time because the tuition fees for next semester would be ahead of me and hence I would rather save my money for the same. If at all I have to make shopping, I will consider other options than departmental stores like Online shopping, or small shops with reasonable prices within the town.